As Enoch Powell famously said: “All political careers end in failure.” Even Downing Street giants like Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair exited on a bum note. If Burnham becomes PM, he risks starting on one. There’s a global financial timebomb ticking beneath all of us, and if it goes off he’ll be helpless. Chancellor Rachel Reeves hasn’t triggered it, but she’s left us horribly exposed to the fallout by losing control of the economy even before it explodes.

On Friday, panic gripped Wall Street. The S&P 500 suffered a stunning $2trillion one-day loss as panicking investors raced for the exits. That might just be the start of its troubles. Investors are scared of three things right now. First, a massive artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. Second, rising inflation. Third, an oil supply shock triggered by Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

In contrast to Britain’s stagnant economy, the US is powering ahead. The danger is that it will soon overheat and implode, forcing a brutal stock market crash. If that happens, all of Labour’s plans would be swept away. Reeves is already taxing us to the hilt while also borrowing £140billion this year to make her sums add up. A global crash would be a disaster. And it come could come to a head as soon as next week.

What’s been billed as “once-in-a-generation, moneymaking moment” lands on Friday 12 June, when Elon Musk’s technology giant SpaceX floats on the US stock market. It’s valued at a staggering $1.8trillion, the biggest IPO in history. It could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire. The excitement is off the chart. So is the anxiety. SpaceX is an extraordinary business. It’s pioneered reusable rockets, dominates satellite launches and has almost 10,000 Starlink satellites circling the globe. SpaceX has a huge AI operation too. And that’s what’s spooking analysts.

AI may well transform the world, but right now ‘AI hyperscalers’ like Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are pouring hundreds of billions into infrastructure that generates little profit. SpaceX is burning up money. It lost $5billion in 2025 and another $4billion in the first quarter of this year alone. That’s largely due to its colossal AI spend.

Some investors fear Musk is keen to float now because he needs cash to keep the show on the road. The shares could soar after launch. Or they could collapse. Analysts at Morningstar value SpaceX at just $780billion. That’s a fraction of its $1.8trillion valuation. There’s an awful lot of hype in that number. Many fear we’re witnessing the late-1990s dot-com bubble all over again. Rising inflation and oil prices are raising the stakes by driving up borrowing costs and interest rates.

If the AI frenzy implodes, the consequences could be brutal. Technology stocks have carried global markets for years. Without them, we’ll struggle. The last thing Britain needs is another inflation surge combined with panicking investors fleeing to safer assets. Gilt yields would jump even higher, driving up our borrowing costs and shredding Labour’s already wafer-thin fiscal credibility. And all this may hit just as Burnham reaches Number 10.

Ironically, the crisis could save Reeves politically. Whoever is PM may decide against switching chancellors mid-disaster. But it could sink Burnham before he’s barely unpacked his boxes. As with the dot-com bubble, this AI mania may inflate even further before it bursts. Nobody knows exactly when the reckoning comes. But I wouldn’t want to be in Number 10 when it does.

Burnham has spent years chasing the top job. It could turn into a nightmare in a flash. The consequences will be awful for the rest of us too. Let’s hope Friday’s SpaceX launch goes smoothly and stock markets get lift off. If it explodes like one of Musk’s rockets, we’re all in trouble.